While the nationwide daily tally of COVID-19 cases continues to decline, the Centre on Tuesday said that nearly 37 districts across nine states are witnessing a rise in the average single-day coronavirus infections in the last two weeks.
The reproduction rate, R factor is more than 1 in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttar Pradesh, the Union Health Ministry said during a press briefing, adding that remains a cause of concern.
"37 districts across nine states -- Kerala (11 districts), Tamil Nadu (7), Himachal Pradesh (6), Karnataka (5), Andhra Pradesh (2), Maharashtra (2), West Bengal (2), Meghalaya (1) and Mizoram (1) -- are still showing a rising trend in daily new COVID-19 cases during the last two weeks," Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary of the Union Health Ministry, said.
The R factor refers to the number of people a single person, infected with COVID-19, is infecting. The R factor helps nations to decide how the virus is spreading and take measures effectively.
The Union Health Ministry said that the R factor of Andhra Pradesh, Goa, and Nagaland is 1 while for India, it is around 1.
"If we look at the overall picture, we are hovering with a reproduction number of around 1 and it is more than 1 in some states. An increasing trend is a cause for concern," Lav Agarwal said.